The influence of PEEK as a pore former on the microstructure of brush-painted LSCF cathodes

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - At lower operation temperature of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFC), polarization resistance was recognized as a limiting step...     

Ammonium-Nitrogen Recovery from Wastewater by Struvite Crystallization Technology

Struvite crystallization is one of the sustainable approaches for recovering ammonium nitrogen (NH₄-N) from wastewater in the form of a valuable material, in parallel with improving wastewater treatment efficiency. Focusing on NH₄-N recovery, this review discusses the factors influencing struvite crystallization including the effect of foreign elements. It is shown that more than 95% of NH₄-N could be recovered in the form of struvite, a magnesium-ammonium phosphate (MAP) salt, from some kinds of wastewater. This review emphasizes the role of utilizing alternative sources of Mg and P in improving the process sustainability. Additionally, it also explains how the MAP precipitation process could result with significant reduction of other pollutants contributing to total organic carbon, of color and turbidity, which support MAP integration with other treatment methods. The main options of lowering MAP recovery cost are presented; it was shown that applying low-cost materials of both Mg and P could save more than 65% of the process’s cost. Finally, the future research directions to improve NH₄-N recovery are pointed out.     

Morus alba Prevented the Cyclophosphamide Induced Somatic and Germinal Cell Damage in Male Rats by Ameliorating the Antioxidant Enzyme Levels

Cytogenetic analysis is essential to determine the effect of mutagens and antimutagens on genetic material. This study was done to evaluate the protective effect of root bark extract of Morus alba (M. alba) against cyclophosphamide induced somatic and germinal cell damage in male rats. The ethanolic extract of M. alba (0.25, 0.5 and 1 g/kg, 2 weeks) was evaluated against cyclophosphamide (75 mg/kg, single dose) induced nuclear damage. The sampling was done after 48 h of the clastogen treatment. The somatic and germinal nuclear damage was studied by bone marrow micronucleus and sperm analysis, respectively. Serum superoxide and catalase levels were estimated to determine the antioxidant status in each group. The results were analyzed statistically to find the significant variation. The administration of M. alba for 2 weeks suppressed dose-dependently the changes induced by cyclophosphamide. M. alba (0.5 g/kg) decreased the frequency of micronucleated erythrocyte, sperm shape abnormality and enhanced the sperm count, sperm motility and polychromatic-normochromatic erythrocytes ratio significantly (p < 0.05) in comparison with the cyclophosphamide treated group. The highest tested dose of M. alba (1 g/kg) produced more prominent suppression (p < 0.01) in the cyclophosphamide-induced somatic and germinal cell defects. The results also showed significant (p < 0.05) improvement in the serum antioxidant enzymes levels with M. alba when compared with the challenge group. The lower dose of M. alba extract (0.25 g/kg) prevented the CP-induced changes but was found to be statistically insignificant. Therefore, antimutagenic potential of the high dose of the extract of M. alba is possibly due to its antioxidant nature. The ability of the M. alba extract to prevent the nuclear damage could play an important role in overcoming several mutational defects that are associated with anticancer chemotherapy.     

Surface-roughness measurement using dry friction noise

A new technique for determining surface roughness is introduced. It is based upon measuring the generated noise due to dry friction of a metallic blade which travels over the surface under consideration. If the frictional force is made small enough to excite the blade, and not the entire system, then the noise will be proportional to surface roughness, and independent of the measured specimen size and material. A prototype acoustic device was designed and constructed and then used to substantiate the technique. Several specimens were machined by different machining processes to obtain a wide range of roughnesses. The specimen surface roughness was measured by a widely used commercial instrument (Talysurf 10), and the prototype transducer. A straight line correlation (on a logarithmic graph) between sound pressure levels (SPL), obtained from the transducer, and roughnesses, obtained from the Talysurf instrument, was found over the range from 0.025 to 100 m. The coefficient of correlation between the measured values of SPL and roughness was as high/as 98 percent. Therefore, the technique could be adopted for measuring roughness and the prototype may thus be considered as a new roughness measuring device.The prototype device has the advantages of being sensitive, accurate and compact. It also has the capability of measuring the roughness of almost any type of surface regardless of its shape, material and complexity. Hence it is considered adequate for most engineering applications.     

Advances in enantiomeric resolution on monolithic chiral stationary phases in liquid chromatography and electrochromatography

During the last decade, chiral monolithic stationary phases have been prepared and used for rapid enantioseparations in CEC and HPLC. Various chiral selectors are used to prepare these CSPs. The preparation, properties, and applications of these CSPs are discussed in this paper. Attempts have been made to describe optimization strategies and the chiral recognition mechanisms. A comparison of chiral separations in CEC and HPLC is described. Efforts have also been made to predict the future perspectives and challenges of chiral monolithic stationary phases. The most effective chiral selectors include polysaccharides, cyclodextrins, and macrocyclic glycopeptide antibiotics. These chiral phases produced acceptable analytical enantiomeric separation of a variety of racemates. However, the development of these CSPs for preparative‐scale separations is needed.     

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes modified with gold nanoparticles for simultaneous analysis of N-acetylcysteine and acetaminophen

A novel film consisting of nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified with gold nanoparticles (further denoted as N-MWCNTs/AuNPs) was fabricated and applied for the simultaneous electrochemical analysis of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and acetaminophen (AC) in phosphate buffer solution (PBS, pH 7.0). The fabricated film exhibits powerful response towards simultaneous analysis of NAC and AC followed by well-separated cyclic voltammetric waves (～440 mV). The oxidation peak currents of NAC and AC increase linearly with their concentrations in the ranges of 0.100–1.510 mM and 0.063–0.190 mM, respectively. The detection limits of N-MWCNTs/AuNPs towards NAC and AC were estimated to be 3.0 and 0.35 μM, respectively. The good catalytic activity, the high detection ability, and the great stability of N-MWCNTs/AuNPs verify that such composite materials are extremely promising for the construction of biosensors.